AGP 2012

As you probably know, the Annual General Picnic that is normally held in Auckland, New Zealand in February is being held on the Greek Island of Crete in May this year.  The AGP is held in a foreign location every 5 years.  The 5th picnic was in Sydney, Australia, the 10th was in San Francisco, CA, the 15th was in Noumea, and now the 20th is being held on Crete.

Lots of planning has gone into this, as we've known for years now that Crete was the destination.  Unfortunately, many of the regular picnic-goers are not able to make the trip, but there will be about 20 of us in attendance.

Tony and Deane are the original organizers of the AGP.  They are taking advantage of their trip to Greece to travel around the world!

Their first stop was in San Francisco (via LA) where they spent  some time with us before boarding Amtrak in Emeryville to travel by train across the United States!  They will spend a day and night in Chicago, and then travel on to New York, where they have tickets to several operas.  After a side trip to Washington, DC, they will fly to London for 10 days before heading on to Greece.

By the time Tony and Deane finish their train trip, they will have seen more of the US than I have - I'm jealous - had a tremendous urge to get on the train!!

We made use of the short time they were here - we visited Filoli, had lunch at Alice's Restaurant, visited a winery and enjoyed a leisurely time on the patio at the Distillery!

Thanks for making us the first stop on your incredible journey, you two!!

Arriving at SFO - Tony and Deane were amazingly chipper considering that they had been traveling for over 16 hours.

Lee put the New Zealand flag out to greet them!

And, still upright after champagne, dinner and after dinner drinks!

Timothy, Deane and Tony at Filoli

Timothy enjoying the gardens - this bear has been all over the world!

A beautiful, sunny afternoon at the Distillery

It was nice and warm, and we were treated to lots of whales spouting as they headed north to Alaska - a grand and glorious day!

Emeryville, CA - waiting for the train

Tony, Pat, Timothy and Deane

And now one with Lee, too!

Their train car

Tony and Deane were smart - they have a sleeping berth for the 54 hour trip to Chicago!

Have a wonderful trip across the US you guys and we'll see you in Santorini!!